Could We?
by Kaji
Summary: Lizzie get's hurt and Gordo is appointed her 'nurse' for a while. It's junior high and hormones are raging!! What'll happen between the two friends? R/R


A/N: This is from Gordo's POV. I hope you like it, it's my first LM fic.  
The first thing I heard when I walked through the school doors was Lizzie's cry of surprise. My head involuntarily whipped around, eyes scanning the hallways for her. Out of the corner of my eye I caught a glimpse of flailing arms and billowing hair just before my best friend hit the ground.  
  
My heart leapt up into my throat, momentarily cutting off my air supply. With what breath I had left, I quickly headed over to where she was, praying she wasn't hurt. This one had sounded worse than usual. There were only a couple of other people in the hallway, but I was really the only one who was paying Lizzie any mind. I got to her just as she sat up, wincing slightly at some pain or another.  
  
I held out a hand to help her up, thanking the heavens that she wasn't hurt. "Are you alright?"  
  
Lizzie took hold of my hand and I hoisted her up. "Yeah, I think I'm ok." She took a step and faltered stumbled slightly. "I think I twisted my ankle, but it's not too bad. I can walk alright."  
  
"Are you sure? Do you want to go to the nurse?" I studied her face carefully, searching for any sign of suffering.  
  
"No, really, I'm fine Gordo. Besides, what's the nurse gonna do, give me a cough drop? It's a good thing I got here early though, no one saw me embarrass myself yet again. I would just die if Ethan saw me on the ground again, or even Kate. Especially after the gym incident last week. I wouldn't be able to show my face in school until I'm like, forty."  
  
I shake my head at her, refusing to show the minor blow to my heart her comment about Ethan made. Still, it was comforting to know she couldn't be embarrassed in front of me, in a weird way. "Forty? Really Lizzie, why do you care what that shallow, phony, superficial 'popular' crowd thinks? You're better than that. There has got to be some way for me to get you to see that."  
  
"Don't bother Gordo, it won't happen. Besides, everyone is a little superficial sometimes." Lizzie cocked one eyebrow, not even having to add the 'duh' to the end of her sentence. Rolling her eyes, she turned and started off towards homeroom, only slightly limping.  
  
"A little superficial?" I muttered, shaking my head. I followed her to homeroom, following slightly behind and to the left, so as not to get trampled by everyone else being herded through the hallways by our impatient assistant principal. I hadn't even really noticed how crowded the hall had gotten until now. Funny how that happens. As I turn into the room, I find myself in a near collision with my second-best friend, Miranda.  
  
"What are you smiling about Gordo?" she cocked an eyebrow at me, much like Lizzie did only minutes before. I hadn't even realized I was smiling.  
  
"Oh, just thinking about the biology quiz I aced yesterday." That sounded pretty convincing. Judging by the look on Miranda's face, she didn't really believe me, but she didn't pursue the matter either, which I was thankful for. The bell rang and we took our seats, waiting for the teacher to do roll-call.  
  
Ahhh, third period. The high point of my day. The wonders of junior high gym, or physical education, as the teachers are constantly correcting me. And it's my favorite activity, track and field. (A/N: just in case you didn't know, this is extremely sarcastic) I quickly changed into my usually gray t-shirt and blue shorts and walked out of the locker room to meet Lizzie in the gym. Miranda didn't have gym with us this year, so it was up to me and Lizzie to tough it out for the semester. I looked around, spotting Lizzie leaning on the wall next to the door leading outside. I walked over to her, where we then followed the rest of the class outside to the track.  
  
"How's your ankle?" I ask her, noting that the limp had gotten slightly worse. It still didn't seem like something that needed immediate medical attention though.  
  
"It's fine. A little sore, but overall, I think I'll survive. So what are we doing today?"  
  
I noticed the way she changed the subject, but didn't press the matter. "Umm, I think three laps around the track and then one-hundred meter sprints."  
  
Lizzie grimaced. "Ugghh, I hate sprints." At that moment, the teacher blew his whistle, signaling us to start our warm-up laps. As usual, I stuck by Lizzie for the laps. Luckily, we weren't in terrible shape, meaning we didn't end up a lap behind everyone with Tudgeman. This time though I had to jog a little slower to allow Lizzie's handicap.  
  
"Lizzie, you sure you don't want to sit this out? Jogging can't be too healthy for that." I said, motioning to her ankle.  
  
"Gordo, really, im fine. Now stop asking me if im ok and try to keep up." Promptly, Lizzie sped up a little, but I was still able to keep up easily.  
  
Eventually, we finished our laps, then lining up with the rest of the class to start the sprints. We lined up in pairs, me obviously pairing with Lizzie (who else?) towards the back of the lines. I usually beat her, but every once in a while I would let her beat me just to watch her try and shove it in my face. It was really quite amusing.  
  
Our turn came, and we assumed the normal starting position. Coach blew her whistle signaling us to run. I shot out in front. Twenty-five meters, fifty, eighty. Just before I hit the finish-line, I heard a nasty crack behind me, a cry of pain, and a muted thud. I whipped around to see Lizzie once again on the ground, this time her face contorted in a fierce pain. I saw her ankle was at an odd angle. It didn't look too good. I ran back to her and knelt beside her, looking in her face to see silent tears of pain streaming from her eyes down her cheeks.  
  
"Lizzie!" Coach was yelling, jogging towards us. The other students were keeping their distance.  
  
"Can you get up?" I asked softly.  
  
"I don't know, maybe." She struggled into a sitting position.  
  
"Here, let me help." I put an arm around her waist, carefully pulling her up, until I was nearly carrying her. She was surprisingly light, and I didn't have much of a problem supporting her. I put her arm around my shoulders, then turned to the coach.  
  
"Ok Gordon, good. Bring her to the nurse and stay there with her. She can write you a pass to your next class, if need be." She nodded, as if agreeing to her own commands.  
  
"Alright, come on Lizzie, you're doing good. Come on, don't go to fast or you'll end up even more hurt than you are now. Oh, and I told you so."  
  
Ahh, a smile. That was a relief to see, even with puffy eyes and tear stained cheeks. Together we hobbled back towards the building.  
  
"I'm so stupid. You would think I would know by now that your always right Gordo." She lowered her eyes in shame. I could see her face start to scrunch up as if she were about to cry, which was absolutely the last thing I wanted at that particular moment. I never have any idea what to do around crying girls.  
  
As I saw her shoulders start to tremble, I quickly looked around in a panic. 'Come on, come on' I muttered. 'Yes!' I spotted a nearby bench, and took Lizzie by the elbow, sitting her down. I took a seat next to her and quietly waited. She was sobbing silently, her back shaking, and I could see tear after tear noiselessly falling to the ground. After a minute or two, Lizzie drew in a shaky breath, sniffled and wiped her arm across her eyes. "You ok?" She slowly raised her tear-stained eyes to look at me.  
  
"I don't know. I really don't Gordo." She looked away, then down at her motionless ankle. I know her foot must be hurting her a lot, but the way she answered me, I got the feeling it ran deeper than that. Something was wrong. Whatever it was though, it could wait. First and foremost I had to get her to the nurse, maybe to the hospital, if it was that serious.  
  
I stood up and offered my arm to help her up. She got up on her good foot, careful not to put any weight on the other. With my help, we made it inside the school. Just our luck, one hallway away form the nurse's office the bell rang. Within seconds, the hallways were swarming with kids, all of them completely disregarding Lizzie's handicap. For a few seconds we thought we could maybe make it to the office okay, but when some kid walked right into Lizzie, making her gasp in pain, I thought better of that. "Hey!" I yelled at the kid. "Why don't you watch where you're going!"  
  
"It's ok Gordo, not his fault." She was leaning heavily against a wall at this point. I shook my head at her.  
  
I wordlessly guided her into an empty classroom to our right. "This is getting ridiculous Lizzie. We've spent the last ten minutes trying to get into the school, and when we finally do, we nearly get trampled to death. School is ruthless nowadays."  
  
Lizzie let out a soft laugh. We waited until the halls had cleared before proceeding down the hallways. Finally, we were at the office. I opened the door for Lizzie, waited for her to shuffle through and sit in the nearest chair, then followed. I did a little victory dance. "Woohoo! We finally made it. I don't think Odysseus had this much trouble." Lizzie snorted.  
  
After maybe two minutes, the nurse came out of a room to the left, looking harassed. "What is it?" She looked first at me for an explanation, then, with a slight wave of my hand, at Lizzie. The nurse took one look at her face. "Oh, dear, are you okay? What happened?"  
  
Lizzie, keeping herself composed, replied, "Gym. We were hundred meter sprints and my ankle rolled, then sort of gave out, and then I'm on the ground. I think it's broken."  
  
"Well, that's certainly not a good thing. Come on dear, into this room here." She helped Lizzie over to a room next to the one she had just come out of, out of my line of sight. And so I was left to sit and think 


End file.
